Weekend's Premier League team news

Aston Villa's Ciaran Clark is recovering from a knee injury but may be fit to face Norwich

*All games 3.00pm unless stated

Highlights: Premier Soccer Saturday, RTÉ Two 8.45pm

ASTON VILLA V NORWICH, 12.45pm

Aston Villa are facing a potential centre-back injury crisis for the home Barclays Premier League clash with manager Paul Lambert's former club Norwich.

Richard Dunne (groin) is definitely ruled out while Nathan Baker (ankle) and Ciaran Clark (knee) will be assessed later today.

Matt Lowton is on stand-by to switch into the centre with Eric Lichaj in contention to earn a recall as his replacement at right-back as Villa look to improve on a record of one win in 18 league games.

The former Manchester United midfielder suffered a knee injury in the 1-1 draw against Everton and has not trained fully all week.

Ryan Nelsen and Armand Traore, who were both substituted during the game, are both available to manager Mark Hughes who is still looking to guide QPR to their first league win this season. Both Fabio (hamstring) and Andrew Johnson (knee) remain sidelined.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis could be set to welcome back midfielder Glenn Whelan against Sunderland.

Whelan returned to training on Thursday after recovering from the hamstring problem he picked up in the 0-0 draw at Liverpool earlier this month.

Pulis has no other injury worries ahead of the clash at the Britannia but striker Cameron Jerome could be set to leave the club on loan before the weekend after npower Championship side Blackburn were strongly linked with a move for the player.

Sunderland skipper Lee Cattermole will return to the squad for the trip.

The 24-year-old midfielder has missed the last three games through suspension after being sent-off for the seventh time in his career during the 2-0 Capital One Cup third-round victory at MK Dons on September 25.

Full-back Phil Bardsley has a chance of being involved for the first time this season after making the bench for Sunday's derby draw with Newcastle following his recovery from an ankle injury, but central defender Titus Bramble (hip flexor) remains a doubt and Wes Brown (knee) is still out.

Wigan could be without winger Ryo Miyaichi for the clash against West Ham at the DW Stadium.

The Japan international is suffering from a slight groin problem and is a doubt for the match, where Wigan will bid to end a six-game winless run in the league.

The Latics will again be without winger Albert Crusat (knee) and defender Antolin Alcaraz (groin), with manager Roberto Martinez admitting the Paraguayan centre-back is unlikely to be back much before Christmas.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce will welcome defender Joey O'Brien back into the squad.

The 26-year-old suffered a hamstring injury during the Hammers' 2-1 win at QPR at the start of the month and his return will ease Allardyce's defensive worries.

Matthew Taylor (calf) and Guy Demel (thigh) could return to first-team action shortly, but Allardyce will have to wait longer for both Ricardo Vaz Te (shoulder) and Jack Collison (knee), whose injuries are more long term.

Champions Manchester City are again without playmaker David Silva and a number of other players for their game with Swansea.

Silva continues to struggle with the hamstring injury which has kept him out for the past two games while defenders Pablo Zabaleta (hamstring) and Maicon (foot), and midfielders Javi Garcia (thigh) and Jack Rodwell (hamstring) are also missing.

Another midfielder, James Milner, also sits out through suspension after his sending-off at West Brom last weekend.

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the trip.

The Dane could opt to again start midfielder Michu in attack after the Spaniard claimed his sixth goal of the season when employed as a striker in the win over Wigan, with Danny Graham the alternative.

Pablo Hernandez and in-form Wayne Routledge look set to keep Nathan Dyer on the bench, while Kyle Bartley (thigh) and Neil Taylor (broken ankle) are the only long-term absentees.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers will continue to monitor the condition of goalkeeper Jose Reina ahead of the game.

Reina has been nursing a hamstring problem picked up on international duty with Spain and missed the win over Reading last Saturday and yesterday's Europa League victory against Anzhi Makhachkala, but has been back in training at the Reds' Melwood complex.

Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote will miss the clash with West Brom as he starts a three-match ban.

The Ivory Coast international is suspended after being sent off during the first half of last weekend's 1-1 derby draw at Sunderland.

However, manager Alan Pardew is likely to restore most of the men he left out of the starting line-up for last night's 1-0 Europa League victory over Club Brugge with Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Fabricio Coloccini, Mike Williamson, Yohan Cabaye, Jonas Gutierrez, Hatem Ben Arfa, Shola Ameobi and Demba Ba all rested.

Tottenham's Gareth Bale will return from paternity leave to face former club Southampton.

The Wales international missed the games with Chelsea and Maribor after the birth of his first child and will be joined in the squad by Brad Friedel, who also did not travel to Slovenia for yesterday's Europa League tie.

Emmanuel Adebayor could returns after back pain and be joined at St Mary's by Mousa Dembele, who has recently struggled with a hip complaint. Michael Dawson (illness) will be assessed, while Scott Parker (Achilles), Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Younes Kaboul (both knee) are all sidelined.

Frank Lampard will be sidelined for at least a fortnight with a calf problem, manager Roberto Di Matteo confirmed today.

Lampard limped out of Tuesday's Champions League defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk with a recurrence of the injury he suffered before the international break and will miss Sunday's game against Manchester United, the Capital One Cup clash with the same opponents, a trip to Swansea and the Champions League return against Shakhtar.

John Terry will serve the remainder of his racism ban in the first three of those games while Marko Marin is back after a minor injury.

The Japan international picked up the knock against Braga on Tuesday, meaning he will miss Sunday's trip to Chelsea and the following weekend's encounter with Arsenal, plus the return Champions League game with Braga and his country's World Cup qualifier with Oman on 14 November.

Chris Smalling has returned to training after a broken metatarsal but Phil Jones (knee) and Anders Lindegaard (thumb) remain sidelined as United look to record their first Premier League win at Stamford Bridge since 2002.